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carraysmemorydata-structuresrealloc

How can i save space in array which is not being used?

If I create an array of size 10 and only 2 elements are stored in array so remaining spaces gets wasted. so how can I solve this problem? (by data structure)

Solution

  • You would use a simple linked list instead of an array, or if you would need to use an array, then you should use realloc(), which would shrink the array to use only 2 cells, instead of 10. , like this:

    #include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main(void)
{
    int* ptr = malloc(10 * sizeof(int));
    ptr[0] = 4;
    ptr[1] = 13;
    ptr =  realloc(ptr, 2 * sizeof(int));
    printf("%d %d\n", ptr[0], ptr[1]);
    return 0;
}

    Output:

    4 13